marycruz

9 minutes ago, CruiserFromMaine said:

Yes, an extensive one. Location was good, and it has to be better if they’ve finished the work. 

Thanks.  I sure hope so.   Do you remember if there is a CVS neaby?

13 hours ago, CruiserFromMaine said:

We stayed at the AKA Brickell in Jan 2023, and they were still working on it. It was kind of a mess. Also the transport to the ship was disorganized and late. We’ve sworn off Regent hotels and transport for now. We’ll take any credit and book our own, or book a lower category. We did the latter on our next two cruises. 

Were they doing a renovation?   All the reviews on trip advisor are mostlly good.  Of course I know not to depend on reviews but I did book based on the fact that I didn't see any negatives.

1 hour ago, Gpilon said:

The hotel had an elevator not operating, which is inconvenient given the "lobby" is on the 17th floor (if memory serves correct). The included breakfast was extremely poor and on one of the lower floors of the building. The hotel restaurant/bar was "ok", but certainly we would have expected more for a Regent supplied hotel. 

Thanks.  Hopefully they've taken care of some of these issues.  I will let you know when we come back from our cruise.

Thanks again for responding.

1 hour ago, Gpilon said:

Sorry…referring to AKA Brickell. 

Thanks.  Can you share what you didn't like about the hotel?

1 hour ago, Gpilon said:

We were booked there on a Splendor cruise as part of our “free” hotel package about 2 years ago. We would not want to stay there again and it has had some bad reviews here on CC over the past. Appears Regent heard the critiques and changed hotels. 

Are you referring to the Brickell hotel or the Hyatt Coral Gables?

10 hours ago, stan01 said:

Haven't stayed at AKA but its Brickell location is great for a 1-2 night pre cruise stay.  Walking distance to dozens of restaurants.  Another choice is the Four Seasons Miami (in Brickell) which has a very large elevated pool deck with views of the city and out over the bay.  We would not want to stay in Coral Gables for one night, would prefer to stay closer for a short hop to the port.

Thanks much!

11 hours ago, mrstanley said:

Marycruz

 

when is your cruise? 

End of March.

2 hours ago, CJANDH said:

We stayed at the Oriental last time we used a Regent hotel. Nice hotel but not a great location for walking to town for dinner. We now pass on the Regent hotel and stay at the Intercontinental. Great hotel with views of the cruise port. Short Uber to the ship, bypassing the Regent bus transfer and all the crowds and wait time.

We usually stay at the Intercontinental on our own as well.  But this time on our Grandeur cruise there is a music festival across the street which is going to conclude at the hotel with music in the lobby from 10PM until 3AM so we're not staying there.   Regent also told us they are using the Biltmore for the Mar-Apr cruises, We are looking at the AKA Brickell if anyone has any info on this hotel.  

5 minutes ago, bitob said:

Trying to figure out which hotel Regent might use in Miami 

I did a search (not an easy thing to search) and came up with 2 possibilities:  Biltmore in Coral Gables and the Intercontinental

 

Does anyone have any recent information on which Miami hotels Regent is using?

I was told they use the Biltmore.

4 hours ago, OilPainter2020 said:

We did clear the waitlist!  Sailing March 25!

Congratulations.   Hope you scored a nice suite.  

1 hour ago, rcandkc said:

No, that is THE Captain.  For many many years he was on Navigator.  After COVID he went to Mariner.  We saw him in November.  He will be missed. 

I'm so sorry to hear this.  We spoke with him many times and assisted him walking with him to his table in the Horizon lounge at times when the girls were busy and to his dinner table.  He was interesting to talk to and a real gentleman.   Yes, he definitely will be missed and amongst the staff as well.

On 5/2/2020 at 2:51 PM, BBWC said:

He is from the US, his family is in Florida.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/irenelevine/2018/12/01/captain-of-his-destiny-the-man-who-has-lived-on-a-cruise-ship-for-13-years/#25f7eb516d4a

His picture looks like the Capt who was living on the Mariner last Sep-Oct.  Are there two different Captains living on Regent?  

1 hour ago, RetiredandTravel said:

 

Previously I described our serious toilet flooding issue on the Mariner in 2019.  Housekeeping did a remarkable job cleaning up the mess (took the entire day to dry with the door open) and the head of housekeeping apologized.  What surprised us the most was the entire lack of acknowledgement by anyone in senior management on the ship.  Not an apology note or call, maybe send some cookies (included) or wine.   Crickets.  Things go wrong, sometimes its how its handled thats important.  

 

 

It was just the opposite with us.  Senior Management was all over it.  That's how bad it really was in our suite.   They got us back in before dinner but not before we were moved twice - once in a conceirge cabin down the hall (temporary) and then to another penthouse suite upstairs which they said we accepted as a permanent move (we did not).  This was told to us by the Asst Chief Housekeeper who didn't know what was really happening.  I told her the Chief Housekeeper knew we wanted to come back.  The suite upstairs was upacceptable.  It was so noisy we could not catch any sleep after being up so early and moving all of our stuff out of the suite twice.  We couldn't turn off the shower in that suite.   It was almost comical.  The Asst Chief Housekeeper said our suite was being given to the people next door because we accepted the new penthouse as permanent.  I said that was not happening and that the Chief Housekeeper and the Conceirge knew we wanted to come back to our original suite.   The General Manager was also involved and told us our suite would be ready for us to move back in by 5 PM and it sure was.  

So I have to say we had no problem with anyone on the ship taking care of us.  

16 minutes ago, marycruz said:

Hopefully there are no toilet problems then.   Ours was not.   A pipe burst in the hallway and what we were told was that they increased the pressure to get hot water up to the bridge and that's what made the pipe burst.  A security guard was checking the hallways on his night shift and saw a flood in the hallyway outside our suite and they immediately turned off the water but it was too late for the cabins in that are.  Because it was right outside our suite ours was totally flooded.  I've never seen anything like that on a cruise.   We put the slippers on just to get out of the cabin and they were totally soaked.  This has nothing at all to do with someone flushing anything.  Our toilet worked great the entire time we  were on the B2B cruises.  The first leg was fine.  This happened on the second leg about 5 days into the cruise.   

D

Don't worry.   I'm sure they will never turn up water pressure on this ship like that again.  The pipes are just too old.

 

 

 

Forgot to mention - the only dry place in the suite was the bathroom!

44 minutes ago, jeb_bud said:

We were in a Concierge on Deck 8, starboard, toward the aft elevators. I had read about the recent flushing problems so we were very conscientious about what went into the toilet. Fortunately for us it paid off.  

 

We have one more cruise booked on Mariner in September of 2025 so just before the dry dock. We like the ship and I expect whatever issues caused some service issues in October to be resolved well before we arrive. 

Hopefully there are no toilet problems then.   Ours was not.   A pipe burst in the hallway and what we were told was that they increased the pressure to get hot water up to the bridge and that's what made the pipe burst.  A security guard was checking the hallways on his night shift and saw a flood in the hallyway outside our suite and they immediately turned off the water but it was too late for the cabins in that are.  Because it was right outside our suite ours was totally flooded.  I've never seen anything like that on a cruise.   We put the slippers on just to get out of the cabin and they were totally soaked.  This has nothing at all to do with someone flushing anything.  Our toilet worked great the entire time we  were on the B2B cruises.  The first leg was fine.  This happened on the second leg about 5 days into the cruise.   

D

Don't worry.   I'm sure they will never turn up water pressure on this ship like that again.  The pipes are just too old.

On 2/6/2024 at 2:11 PM, jeb_bud said:

What suite were you in?

Penthouse B, deck 9.   All the suites in that area were Penthouse suites that were affected.  It was on port side in the 920's.

1 hour ago, jeb_bud said:

We were on Mariner last October. Our toilet flushed every time. I don’t recall any aroma issues. 
 

Not everyone was so lucky. We saw crew working on clearing drains and some wet vacs and drying fans. We’re booked on Mariner again next year just before the dry dock. 

That was probably us.   Suites were flooded and ours was the worst.  No toilet problems at all but a pipe broke in the hallway and 4-5 suites were affected.   Our entire suite was flooded, all the way up to the verandah door.   Was woken up at 5 AM by the noise in the hallway and stepped into more than an inch of water.   Luggage under the bed was soaked along with anything on the closet floor.   

I have to commend the staff on Mariner.   They were right there with the vacs and ripped up all the carpet in the suite.  They had to take out all of the furniture and we were moved 2 different times but moved back into the suite and had a brand new carpet which was nice.   BTW this was the second leg on a B2B cruise to New England/Canada.

The other good part was we had a great shower and toilet.  No problems in our suite.

2 hours ago, alexandria said:

It never fails.  Over the past few years, whenever my wife and I are waiting patiently in line to board a mass market cruise, invariably someone in front of me is "saving" a spot for someone who is "on their way" which more often than not turns out to be a large group, not just a spouse.  And then, of course, when that "spot saver" and their party reaches the front of the line, one or more of them are nearly always unprepared to show the correct documentation, or there is some other issue and they manage to delay everyone behind them who was actually waiting their turn.  😠

 

If you are waiting on members of your party to arrive at the terminal on embarkation day and want to board together, just wait until they are there before getting in the line to board.  If you have access to specialty dining due to your category or past passenger status and want to dine with friends who don't enjoy that access, join them in the MDR or other venue.  If you have priority tender access and your friends do not, either wait for them on shore or tender in with their group.  Common courtesy and respect for others seems to be in shorter supply now than it was in the past.

 

Being considerate of your fellow passengers will make the cruise experience more enjoyable for all!  😀

On the same order of people saving an entire row of seats in the theater for folks who are all in the bathroom!

11 hours ago, SWFLAOK said:

I really don't know why the newer cruise ships are keeping the bath tubs. We have 2 bath tubs at home, and only use the large one once in a while. On cruise ships, if there's a shower that's what we use. The bath tub has a laundry line over it, and we hang wet swim suits and hand wash on it. But we find it a waste of space. 

Two trying to get ready at the same time are likely to bump into each other on the bath mat between the standalone shower and the tub shower. In some of the higher level suites, the tub and shower might be in separate rooms, and would allow 2 people to get ready at the same time.

I don't understand why the standalone showers do not have a laundry line.   If there is not tub where would you hang wet bathing suits?

2 hours ago, jjwoben1 said:

Any info or reviews? TIA

IWe've stayed there many times and really like it.  We stayed in a king ocean view and you could see the cruise ship in the morning (if that's the one you mean across from the port).  They have a nice restaurant with excellent food and service.  Very pricey but worth it.  Right now the date we are looking for is very expensive so we're waiting for the price to come down.  Rooms are very comfortable also.  There are various reviews on Trip Advisor if you want to read those.

1 hour ago, mrstanley said:

Order a clothesline on Amazon. It has suction cups.

Depends on what kind of walls are in the shower.   We have that one with the suction cups but I don't know if it would work in the Regent shower stall.   

1 hour ago, SWFLAOK said:

From our experience on Regent (Navigator, Mariner, Voyager, Splendor) we have always had a tub with a laundry line. We never use the tub, but we always use the laundry line. Regent has free laundry for everyone post Covid, but there are still things we want to wash and hang. Not all cabins are the same so you need to check if you have a tub or not. Most cabins have a tub on Regent and other cruises we've taken. We really wonder why since we could still find a place to hang the few things we hand wash without the tub, and the tub is a large waste of space if you only take showers onboard.

Ours doesn't have a tub so I guess we'll have to find somewhere to hang bathing suits when wet.

36 minutes ago, SC Retired Cruiser said:

Correction.  We were on Explorer.

Seems as though some suites have them and some don't.  Thanks for responding.

1 hour ago, Jim B said:

Yes there are shower lines.

Was that in the shower stall or the tub?

We will be in a Penthouse B on an upcoming Grandeur cruise.   Does anyone know if there are lines in the showers for hanging things like wet bathing suits?  Thanks in advance.